University Circle

Julie and attend most of the MIX at CMA events during the year. We enjoy both the general party atmosphere in the Ames Family Atrium, and the themed tours through the galleries led by art experts from the Cleveland Museum of Art.

My CMNH friends, adult programs coordinator Ashley Hall, and preparator and lab manager Lee Hall, had often recommended that I attend a Cleveland Museum of Natural History Members Behind-The-Scenes Night. They told me that attendees get to explore the normally off-limits lower levels of the Museum.

Therefore, when Spike Radway invited me to attend with him and Henry Lee, I knew I needed to make time to go.

A flurry of activity! In late April and early May of 2018, I had eight busy days of activities! I originally created this as one single blog post listing all nine events, but later decided to publish nine posts to make it easier to find for my website visitors to read.

I still think of it as one post that I hope will not only give you insight into my eight-day week, but more importantly, encourage you to support these organizations with your presence at future events.

In our blog post, Cleveland Museum of Art's "Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe," we wrote that Stuart attended the Eyewitness Views Media and Influencer Exhibition Preview on February 24, 2018. Unfortunately, at the last minute, Julie was not able to attend. We knew she would enjoy this exhibition, so we planned to come to the show together at a future date.

We ordered our tickets to return on Wednesday, April 11, 2018, since the Cleveland Museum of Art's is open late -- until 9:00 pm -- on Wednesday nights to accommodate people like us who need an evening visit time.

While Stuart knew Julie would enjoy Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe, her enthusiasm for the show was even more than Stuart anticipated! It was fun to start the evening by having our photo taken in the Venetian gondola provided by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

On April, 7, 2018, despite a very busy morning at the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy 2018 Opening Day for Trails - Cleveland, I was still very interested in seeing the current exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland in the afternoon. 

Thanks to the sponsorship of PNC Bank, the museum offers free admission for all visitors on the first Saturday of every month.

The current MOCA exhibitions include INDUCTION: Tauba Auerbach and Éliane Radigue, Simon Denny: The Founder's Paradox, Claudia Comte: Zigzags and Diagonals, and Mei-Jia & Ting-Ting & Chih-Fu & Sin-Ji: C. Spencer Yeh. 

My son, Kevin, is developing two board games, so when I told him about Simon Denny's board game designs, he joined me at the Museum. In addition to Simon Denny's work, there were also game designs by local college students.

On the evening of Friday, April 6, 2018, my wife and co-blogger, Julie, and I attended a Cleveland Museum of Art #MIXatCMA. This event takes place on the first Friday of each month, and we attend most of them. The MIX: Philosophy theme had special meaning for me, since it reminded me of seeing Auguste Rodin's sculptures in Paris. There is no additional charge for us to attend these enjoyable events as members of the Museum. 

I was very fortunate to attend the Cleveland Museum of Art's Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe Media and Influencer Exhibition Preview during the museum's members-only opening on February 24, 2018. This event was a fantastic preview with special music from the 18th century performed live in the museum, special drinks and food, and generally a great members party before the exhibition opened to the public on Sunday, February 25, 2018. The exhibition runs through Sunday, May 20, 2018.

December 1, 2017 - a new month full of possibilities! We started off the final month of 2017 with a very active weekend!

• We decided to kick off this December weekend with Mix: Illuminate.

• We enjoyed Cleveland's University Circle Holiday CircleFest, which was expanded into a two-day event.

• We saw Wicked at PlayhouseSquare a few years ago, and were excited to enter the ticket lottery this year.

On September 27, 2017, we traveled back in time almost 100 years via the Cleveland Museum of Art's dazzling The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s exhibition. We were thrilled to attend the Media & Influencers Preview for this spectacular show.

When you go to this exhibition, please be sure to allow yourself plenty of time to fully explore it. The Jazz Age includes such an incredible variety of art and artifacts, that even after our two-hour visit, we plan to come back to see more. Ironwork, jewelry, clothing, accessories, paintings, furniture, cars, a chandelier, and other surprises -- all with an artist's flair! This exhibit is rich with the elegance of the era!

Every year, we visit and write a blog post about the Cleveland Museum of Art's Chalk Festival. It is one of our favorite community events. This blog post includes our photos from the two-day event, and our @sos_jr tweets/retweets with more photos and information about this year's Chalk Festival.

Most years, we attend only on Sunday. Stuart normally does a chalk drawing, and we take photos of all the finished works late on Sunday. This year, Stuart had two events scheduled for Sunday, so we spent a relaxing day on Saturday, September 16, 2017, on the Cleveland Museum of Art's south lawn overlooking Wade Lagoon.

Stuart did his annual chalk drawing, while Julie took in the ambiance of this peaceful setting. The Fine Arts Garden, with its Chester Beach’s Fountain of the Waters, combined with live music, and people from all over Cleveland creating their art, made for a perfect day.